Redistributing KFL&A Public Health Employees to Pre-Pandemic Duty – Kingston | Globalnews.ca

There is almost no end to the list of responsibilities that fall within the scope of public health units in Ontario, from water quality testing on beaches to health education in the community.

During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, public health workers were redeployed to deal with the crisis.

Kingston, Frontenac, Lennox and Eddington currently have relatively low numbers of COVID-19 active cases and hospitalizations, allowing KFL&A public health staff to return and hold on to their pre-pandemic duties.

Immunization for school-aged students is one area, in particular, the health unit has made great strides in.

“We have increased that compliance,” said Dr. Piotr Oglaza, KFL&A’s medical officer of health. “We are currently at 93 percent, so it’s close to what we have pre-pandemic.”

Kingston Health Sciences Center has been able to carefully reduce some of its workload at the Beachgrove COVID-19 Assessment Center.

“We are reducing some activity. We don’t have physicians there at the moment because they don’t really need COVID,” Dr David Pichora, President and CEO of Kingston Health Sciences Center, told Global Kingston.

While KFL&A Public Health holds many of its community events, Oglaja says the organization is ready if the number of active COVID-19 cases rises.

“We are able to pivot when needed. We are working with very dedicated partners from both pharmacies, primary care and service organizations in the community, so we have these partnerships already developed,” Oglaja said.

Pichora says the latest round of Omicron variants circulating across the region is being closely monitored.

“Right now the circulation numbers, staff absenteeism, waste water testing are all showing an increase in response to this BA.5 resurgence,” Pichora said.

Both Pichora and Oglaza insist previous health measures such as frequent hand washing and physical distancing are still worth following as the pandemic is not over.